144 flood insurance claims·$3.6M paid·6 federal flood & hurricane disasters
Share of the whole county outline, rivers and lakes included; parts FEMA hasn’t mapped count as zero.
Shaded areas are FEMA’s mapped flood hazard zones in and around Dale County, Alabama. Zoomed out they are simplified; at street level the map switches to FEMA’s exact layer. Tap anywhere to check that spot, or search an address above.
Flash flooding from heavy rainfall events dominates the flood risk profile in Dale County, supported by frequent tropical storm impacts over the last thirty years. NOAA storm records document significant events such as the peripheral tropical storm force winds and effects from Hurricane Helene in September 2024, as well as a slow-moving cold front on March 18, 2022, that produced 4 to 7 inches of rain in a short period and caused flash flooding.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that historical claims are concentrated in designated high-risk and moderate-to-low-risk areas. Zone A properties account for 68 claims with an average payout of $34,207 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. Zone X properties account for 67 claims with an average payout of $25,679 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches, while unshaded Zone X properties average $51,611 per claim across 7 claims with an average recorded water depth of 6 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A and unshaded Zone X areas, where historical claims reflect higher average payouts and significant recorded water depths during heavy rain and tropical weather events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
9% of Dale County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
76 NFIP claims with a recorded rated flood zone, 1978 to date. The zone is the one FEMA used to rate that policy, which may not match today’s map. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 6 inches.
Drawn to scale against an 80-inch door. Even a few inches soaks flooring, the bottom of the drywall and anything plugged in near the floor.
Average of the depths reported on claims (zero and implausible values left out); FEMA’s record doesn’t say exactly where each depth was measured. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
The worst year was 1994, with 68 claims and $2.2M paid, the year of Severe Storms and Flooding (tropical Storm Alberto).
Bar height is scaled by square root so ordinary years stay visible next to the worst one. NFIP claims by year of loss. Source: OpenFEMA.
21 NOAA storm reports from Dale County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Alabama flood stories →
33 federal disaster declarations since 1975, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 22, 2024 |
| Hurricane Sally | Sep 14, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Apr 19, 2020 |
| Hurricane Michael | Oct 10, 2018 |
| Hurricane Nate | Oct 6, 2017 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 8, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Dec 23, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 28, 2014 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
50 since 1996: 31 flash floods and 7 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical Storm | Sep 26, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 18, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 16, 2021 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 16, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 16, 2020 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 16, 2020 | — |
| Tropical Storm | May 28, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Tropical Storm · Sep 26, 2024. Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph and a minimum central pressure of 938 mb (27.70 inches) at about 11:10 PM EDT on Thursday, September 26th, in Taylor County Florida just east of the Aucilla River. Helene quickly moved inland across Taylor and Madison Counties before moving into Lowndes County in South Central Georgia. The hurricane produced peripheral…
Flash Flood · Jun 29, 2022. A cluster of slow moving thunderstorms produced some isolated flash flooding across southern portions of Dale county.
Flash Flood · Mar 18, 2022. A slow moving cold front brought showers and thunderstorms to the area on March 18th. Thunderstorms trained over the same areas in some instances, resulting in flash flooding due to heavy rain amounts of 4-7 inches falling in a short period of time. In addition, there were a couple of reports of downed trees and large hail.
Flash Flood · Aug 16, 2021. After moving across the Greater Antilles and weakening, the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred strengthened into a tropical storm once again in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall near Cape San Blas with maximum sustained winds near 65 mph on August 16th. The storm brought flooding and strong winds to numerous areas of the tri-state region. Rainfall amounts were generally in the 3 to 9 inch range with the highest a…
National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.
If a building in Dale County is in a high-risk zone (A or V) and its mortgage comes from a federally regulated or insured lender, or is federally backed, flood insurance is required.
Outside those zones it is optional, and often worth having: from 2014 to 2024 nearly one-third of NFIP claims came from outside the high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area. Since Risk Rating 2.0, NFIP premiums are set for each building, so the only reliable price is a quote: FloodSmart.gov or a local agent.